Each year during the Christmas season, many of us enjoy reading or watching the classic tale of “A Christmas Carol” by Charles Dickens. While the story teaches us about the importance of generosity and not being stingy, there are deeper lessons to be learned. In my opinion, empathy is the central theme of this powerful parable.
On Christmas Eve, the ghost of Jacob Marley, Scrooge’s former business partner, visits him to warn him about the arrival of three spirits. Scrooge is curious about the heavy chains Marley wears and asks him about them. Marley explains that he is doomed to walk the earth, unable to help those in need and forced to witness their suffering. Scrooge is confused by this injustice and comments, “You were always a good man of business, Jacob.”
“Business!” cried the Ghost, wringing its hands again. “Mankind was my business. The common welfare was my business; charity, mercy, forbearance, and benevolence, were all my business. The dealings of my trade were but a drop in the comprehensive ocean of my business!”
“Why did I walk through crowds of fellow-beings with my eyes turned down and never raise them . . . ?”
What follows is a powerful transformation as Ebenezer Scrooge begins to see into people’s lives and hearts.
